Mr. Speaker, keeping our kids active and involved in sports leads to healthier, happier lifestyles. That is what we are doing for our kids.

We have created the children's fitness tax credit. We have invested money in Participaction and Le Grand défi. We are working with the provinces and territories to help Canadians stay healthy and active. That is what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services has now had her own personal Damascus Road experience. She now thinks that sole sourced military procurement is bad, in spite of the fact that her department signed off on the F-35s with the speed of light and the stealth of a Ninja.

If sole source is bad for other military contracts, why is not bad for the F-35s? Why not do what the Liberal Party has been asking for years now, which is to have an open, fair and transparent competition for the replacement of the F-18s?

Jacques GourdeConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services has undertaken to improve and optimize military procurement so that Canada's economy, industry and jobs can benefit. Our government is ensuring that our men and women in uniform have the equipment they need to do their work.

Mr. Speaker, with Bill C-38, the government is cutting the heart out of our small communities by attacking library services. The government plans to eliminate the only program that has provided reliable high-speed Internet access to small communities. Saint-Adelphe, in my riding, is one such community.

How does the minister plan to provide fair access to the cultural and historic heritage of our communities, no matter where they are located?

James MooreConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

Mr. Speaker, that is not at all the case.

We have invested in these types of programs in the past and we continue to do so today, all the while ensuring more efficiency than ever before. There are new electronic programs that ensure that the collections the member spoke about are available, and not just in one region, but across the entire country. That is what Library and Archives Canada is doing.

If there is an issue or a problem in her riding that specifically affects a library, I am sure that we can discuss it and find a solution.

Mr. Speaker, a new report from the City of Vancouver shows that homelessness doubled in the last year. Despite this urgent crisis, the government has not invested a dime for housing in the budget. In fact, it was not even mentioned.

How can the government justify no new federal investments when housing in Vancouver is so unaffordable or non-existent for so many? Vancouver's city council has led the way to end homelessness but it cannot do it alone.

Will the government heed Vancouver's call to invest in housing to keep thousands more people from becoming homeless in the next two years, which is what it is predicted ?

Diane FinleyConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development

Mr. Speaker, our government has made unprecedented investments in helping people fight homelessness by ensuring they have access to affordable housing. Through our economic action plan, over 14,000 projects that would help many more families than that, were initiated. Unfortunately, the NDP voted against them.

We also signed five-year agreements with the provinces so they would have stable, predictable funding to fight homelessness and to promote affordable housing and, sadly, the NDP voted against every one of those initiatives as well.

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister knows that the federal investment was a one-time deal that ended and fell far short of what actually needs to be done for affordable housing in this country. The fact is that over 600,000 families in Canada rely on social housing. With the end of the federal money, low-income households will see their housing costs skyrocket, leading to more insecurity.

Why is the government so oblivious to maintaining the affordability of the social housing we have, like co-ops, and ignoring the desperate plight of Canadians who still remain homeless today? Why is the minister not addressing that?

Diane FinleyConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development

Mr. Speaker, we are addressing it. Those 600,000 families that rely on affordable housing are getting support for that housing from our government. Again, the NDP voted against that support.

We have tens of thousands of families that now have access to affordable housing that did not exist before this government came into power. That is because we have made a commitment to help them. We signed a five-year agreement with the provinces to support affordable housing and combat homelessness. It is working. There is a ways to go but we have made our commitment to support Canadians in need. It is too bad the NDP will not support us in supporting them.

Mr. Speaker, Canadian wine producers are eagerly awaiting the passage of Bill C-311, my legislation that would allow Canadians to bring a bottle of wine across provincial borders. It is absolutely vital that we get this popular bill passed before the summer so Canadian wine producers can market and grow their businesses.

Unfortunately, the NDP members have decided to put their own partisan political interests ahead of those Canadian businesses by unnecessarily delaying this legislation.

Could the Minister of Justice please inform the House of the government's position on my legislation?

Rob NicholsonConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that wine producers across this country are eagerly looking forward to the passage of this bill. In that regard, I thank the hon. member for Okanagan—Coquihalla for introducing this bill, as well as the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo for getting it through committee so quickly.

Now I would like to call on the leader of the NDP to apologize for unnecessarily delaying this important legislation. Why do the NDP members always take aim at small businesses across this country? It is one more reason that it would be dangerous to ever let the NDP have anything to do with managing the economy of this country.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I met with Dr. Frank Hayden at the opening ceremonies of the Ontario Special Olympics in Kingston. His research proved that, for the intellectually disabled, athletic training enhanced fitness, motor skills and emotional and social development. The research in Canada led directly to the creation of the Special Olympics. This was curiosity-driven research in Canada at its best.

Will the government please reverse its multi-year cuts to funding for curiosity-driven research in Canada?

Gary GoodyearConservativeMinister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question gives me an opportunity to again tell the House that we recently funded 3,750 researchers to do exactly that: curiosity-driven research in fields such as botany, zoology, physics, mathematics, earth sciences, and the list goes on and on.

I also had the opportunity last Friday to announce almost $70 million for social sciences and humanities research for 92 different research teams across the country.

Mr. Speaker, apple growers and their associations in British Columbia are worried about the approval of the genetically modified non-browning Arctic apple. The release of this apple will harm organic and conventional apple growers, it will damage the local economy and it will cause irreparable damage to the good reputation of B.C. apple growers and their product. The verdict is in: Neither farmers nor consumers want this genetically-modified apple.

Will the minister commit today to protect the B.C. apple industry and its farmers? Will he stop this reckless experiment?

Pierre LemieuxConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that any decisions about genetically modified products are subject to a rigorous science-based assessment process. These assessments ensure that the environment and human and animal health are protected. This government is working hard to ensure that Canadian farmers continue to have access to the best technology in the world, but that the Canadian consumer has safe and reliable food.

Mr. Speaker, Asian carp have decimated the Mississippi watershed and are threatening the Great Lakes. In fact, Asian carp are like the Liberal Party. They destroy fisheries, no one wants them and, when spooked, they are fish out of water.

Our recreational fishery is a vital fishery and provides annual economic benefits in the billions.

Randy KampConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and for the Asia-Pacific Gateway

Mr. Speaker, our government is well aware of the catastrophic potential of this biological invasion, which is why we are committed to preventing the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

In fact, just this week the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans stood on the shores of Lake Ontario and announced the creation and funding of a plan to fight Asian carp. The fund will focus on prevention, early warning, rapid response and management and control.

As the Prime Minister said, when he announced the hunting and angling advisory panel on Wednesday, “we gladly accept the duty of protecting Canada's environment and its natural endowments for the benefit of future generations”.

Mr. Speaker, the FCM is meeting in Saskatoon today to talk about the challenges that municipalities will face over the coming years. Cities are all facing the same problems. All of them, including Laval and Montreal, will have to find ways to fund infrastructure for the long term. Last fall, the Conservatives promised to introduce new funding programs, but now they have nothing to say about it.

Pierre PoilievreConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, two decades ago, there was no federal funding for matters within municipal jurisdiction. Now we have the gas tax fund and the building Canada fund for investment in specific projects. This huge increase in transfers to municipalities is already in place. The challenge is to transform that money into results. We are working to make that happen. These projects are yielding results.